Article blank and method of cutting articles



June .1 1926.

R. s. OLIVER ARTICLE BLANK AND METHOD OF CUTTING ARTICLES Filed June 1.6, 1925 INVENTOI? A7TORNEY5.

Patented June 1, 1926.

PATENT orricn.

REUBEN srnnonn omvna, or wns rrrnnn, new JnnsnY, Assrenon r0 KA MaGnArrI COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.,

A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

ARTICLE BLANK AND METHOD OF CUTTING ARTICLES.

Application filed. June 16, 1925. Serial no. 37,595.

My invention relates to a new and improved combination piece of fabric and mount therefor. 7

One of the objects of my invention is to provide a piece of fabric upon which a design has been formed, not throughout the, entlre area of the piece of fabric, but l1m-;

ited to a smaller area thereof, and to so mount the piece of fabric so designed that it can be easily handled'by the manufacturer of garments or other articles to enable it to be cut in accordance with the pattern of the dress, coat or other article. I have stated that the design is printed upon the fabric because this is the cheapest method of producing a design, but my invention is not limited to printing as the process for securing the said design because the design might be woven in or applied to the fabric in any manner whatever.

Another object of my invention is to proportion thereof, so that the combined fabric and mount can be readily cut in accordance with the pattern of the garment or other ar:

ticle, with a minimum of time, expense and waste.

Other objects of my invention will beset.

forth in the following description and drawings, which illustrate two of the embodiments thereof, it being understood that the above general statement of the objects of my invention is intended merely to generally explain the same and not to limit it in any manner.

Fig. 1 illustrate-s one of the embodiments of my invention. 1

Fig. 2 is a section on the line 2-2 of Fi 1.

3 illustrates another embodiment of my invention.

Fig. 4 is a section on the line 44 of Fig. 3.

The sheet of fabric A has a design composed of lines B, the said design being limited to any predeterminedportion of the fabric. The linesB-illustrate the most ele mentary form of design possible, and it will be understood that the representation is in tended to be diagrammatic with respect to this portion of my invention, because any desired design could be applied to the fabric. This design might be applied to any or design appears only along the Width of the sheet offabric, then it will appear only at the border or edge'of a dress or other article made therefrom.

The decorative portion of the fabric could be chosen so that the decorative effect would appear at other portions of the dress or other article, such as, for example, at the belt of a dress, at the neck of a dress, at the cuff portions of the sleeves of a dress, a circular design on a table mat, a border on a rug, etc. I have not shown the locations of the various decorative portions of the fabric save along the width thereof, as the locations'of the said decorative portions can be chosen by any person skilled in the art for the purposes of the particular type of design desirled upon the completed dress or other art1c e.

The sheet of fabric A is pasted or otherwise'suitably mounted upon a sheet of paperv P. 0f course, any'material which can be readily cut could be substituted for the paper. he purpose of providing a backing for the piece of fabric is as follows It has been known for many years to make dresses and other articles from sheets of fabric uniformly printed or woven with a design which extended over the entire area of each said sheet. In order to economically cut garments and other articles, it is necessary to simultaneously operate upon a large number of pieces or layers of fabric. This has ordinarily been done by means of a cutting knife and sometimes by means of a die. When the sheet of fabric had a uniform clesign printed Or otherwise produced upon the entire area thereof, it was not necessary to have the edges of the pieces of fabric aligned with absolute precision, because of the uniformity of the design over the entire area of each piece of fabric. i

On the contrary, if the design is not uniform over the entire area of the fabric but is limited to a predetermined area thereof, then it is necessary to have the edges of the I for practical purposes.

sheets of fabric aligned with great precision or otherwise the dresses or other art cles will not be made in a uniform manner,

unless the cutting operation is confined to a single piece of fabric. The labor cost incident to cutting a single piece of fabric is so great as to make the cost of articles so made prohibitive. The demand for making dresses and other articles of fabric in which the design is limited to a predetermined portion of the completed article has been so insistent that it has even been proposed to weave silk cloth, for example, upon a very wide loom so as to provide a roll of cloth 54; inches or more in width and to simultaneously weave a design along one edge, for example, of theroll of cloth thus produced. However, weaving cloth in such great widths made it much weaker because the proper tension could not be exerted uniformly upon the filler threads, andin addition garments cut from a bolt of cloth made in this manner had the filler threads running substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the gar ment, and since these filler threads are relatively stretchable in comparison to the warp 7 threads and since these filler threads do not have the stiffening or sizing ordinarily given to the warp threads, agarment made of such a piece of material tends to sag after it has been worn for short time so that the proper fit and hang of the garment are impaired. For this reason, this'proposal has not generally gone. into commercial use.

According to my invention, since the cloth is placed upon a mount, the body of each piece of fabric is sufficiently stifiened so that it can be readily handled, so that the edges of the mounts of a number of pieces of cloth can be readily aligned. In the preferred illustration of my invention, the dimensions of the mount P are greater than the corresponding dimensions of the sheet of fabric so that it is merely necessary for the cutter to align the edges of the relatively stiff pieces of paper P. The cutter can then operate his knife so as to cut through the pieces of fabric and the mounts therefor simultaneously, and experience has shown that dresses or other articles can be cut in a uniform manner from sheets of fabric having designs impressed upon portions thereof.

It is not absolutely necessary to have the dimensions of the mount P greater than the dimensions of the sheet of fabric A affixed thereto. For example, if only one of the edges of the mount P coincided with or extended beyond the corresponding edge of the piece of, fabric A, this would be sufficient Indeed, the dimensions of the mount P could be somewhat smaller than the corresponding dimensions of the sheet of fabric A. without departing from the spirit of my invention, because cardboard, celluloid or the like;

should be stiffer than the fabric which is to be cut, as it is sufficient if the mount and the fabric together have the necessary tiffness so that the combined pieces can be readily handled and aligned.

lVherever I mention fabric in this description of my invention, I wish to include oil-cloth and all equivalent materials whether woven, knitted or the like.

In the. embodiment illustrated in Fig. 2 of my invention, the mount is not solid but is composed of a framework P which may be mace of members composed of paper,

Indeed, it is not necessary that the m mbers I should be made of a material which an be readily out because if said members I? are made of metal, for example, the material or fabric A can be out into pieces having the desired shapes by means of dies. lVliile I have illustrated the members P as forming a complete frame, this is not necessary as one or more of said members P could make itpossible to handle the pieces of fabric A in the manner before mentioned.

It is, however, necessary that the mount for the sheets of fabric or material should I be sufficiently bendable to enable the com- I the rintin or litho 'ranhing o eration, and

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the printing or lithographing operation could be performed in a non-cylinder type of press.

As shown in 1, I prefer to have one of the edges G of the piece of fabric substantially coincide with one of the edges of the mount. This edge G of the piece of fabric can be continuously connected to the mount by adhesive, so that this edge of the combined fabric and mount can be fed to the gripper fingers of the printing mechanism. The other edges of the fabric can be connected to the mount at separated spots.

While I prefer that each mount intended to be connected to a piece of fabric of a given size should have the same dimensions, and that each piece of said fabric should occupy the same relative position on its mount, this is not absolutely necessary, since skilled operator could properly assemble the combined mounts and pieces of fabric by causing'one or more of-the edges of said series of mounts to substantially coincide. Even if the positions of the designs on the completed articles vary slightly, this is sufficient for practical purposes.

I have described a preferred embodiment of my invention, but it is clear that numerous changes and omissions could be made without departing from its spirit.

For convenience, each combined sheet of fabric and mount to be employed for the purpose of dividing each piece of fabric into what may be called the pattern pieces, that is, the pieces corresponding to the pattern of the articles, may be called an article blank.

I do not claim the idea of connecting a piece of fabric to a mount for the purpose of printing thereon, as this is shown, for example, in U. S. Patent No. 113,343 issued April 4-, 1871 to Louis Prang, but I do claim the use of a combined sheet of fabric and mount, after the printing has been completed, for the purpose of dividing each said piece of fabric into pattern pieces.

I claim 1. A method of dividing sheets of fabric having designs printed on portions of the respective areas thereof into pattern pieces corresponding to the pattern of a garment, or other article, which consists in connect ing a portion of each said piece of fabric to a mount, printing the desired design upon corresponding predetermined portions of the respective pieces of fabric other than said connected portion and while each said piece is connected to its respective mount,

arranging the said combined pieces of fabric a predetermined portion of each said sheet other than said connected portion and while each said piece is connected to the said mount, arranging the said combined pieces of fabric and mounts into a pile so that the said designs are in substantial alignment, and then cutting the said pieces of fabric and the said mounts to divide the said pieces of fabric into the said pattern pieces. 7

3. A method of dividing sheets of fabric having designs upon portions of the respective areas thereof into pattern pieces corresponding to the pattern of a garment or other article, which consists in connecting a portion of each sheet of fabric which is independent of the portion on which the design appears to a mount so that the design on each sheet of fabric occupies substantially the same relative position with respect to its mount, the said mounts having corresponding points to serve as guides whereby said sheets of fabric can be placed with .said designs superposed one upon the other, then arranging the combined sheets of fabric and mounts in a pile so that the designs on the said sheets of fabric are substantially in alignment, and then dividing the said sheets of fabric into the pieces corresponding to the pattern of the garment or other article.

a. As a novel article of manufacture, a garment or article blank comprising a sheet of fabric having a portion thereof connected to a mount, the said sheet of fabric having a design upon a portion of the area thereof which is independent of the portion connected to the mount.

5. As av novel article of manufacture, a garment or article blank comprising a sheet of fabric of substantially rectangular shape and having a portion connected to a mount, the said sheet of fabric having a design on a portion of the area thereof which is independent of the portion connected to the mount, a portion of the said design being substantially parallel to one of the edges of the said piece of fabric.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature.

REUBEN SPENCER OLIVER. 

